Liberty late departure today

[nivek82]

Well if anyone had an early flight they probably missed them. In the middle of a b2b on the Liberty and there are still tons of guests on onboard. We were told to meet at 11 but looks like it's going to be a while yet. At 930 this morning they were just calling tag 5,6,7 (an hour later than estimated time.). They made an announcement that it was customs fault.

[Cruzn Fool]

Thanks for posting. It seems like this is the norm now. Glad when I disembrk in March we won't be flying home for a few days so I won't be in any rush.

[trev71]

Perfect Example on why its a good idea not to fly out before 12... Sure it rarely happends.. i bet they are alot of upset people on there

[Retiredprofessor]

Thanks for posting. It seems like this is the norm now. Glad when I disembrk in March we won't be flying home for a few days so I won't be in any rush.

 

I agree we had a late departure in November 2013 and March 2012 on Liberty.

[MomtoCCC]

This is making me nervous.. I scheduled a 10:35 am flight out of FLL. I've seen several reports of long lines to disembark from Liberty. I guess I need to figure out if DD (age 10) and I can do carry our bags out and do the self-disembark early to make sure we make our flight.

 

Do you know what time the people carrying their own luggage were able to leave?

[mitaxi]

This is making me nervous.. I scheduled a 10:35 am flight out of FLL. I've seen several reports of long lines to disembark from Liberty. I guess I need to figure out if DD (age 10) and I can do carry our bags out and do the self-disembark early to make sure we make our flight.

 

Do you know what time the people carrying their own luggage were able to leave?

 

was on LOS in DEC... did carry off my bags...and we started departure at 8am..

[MomtoCCC]

was on LOS in DEC... did carry off my bags...and we started departure at 8am..

 

Do you have to carry them down the stairs? or can you use the elevator?

[mitaxi]

Do you have to carry them down the stairs? or can you use the elevator?

 

you have to be able to carry down the stairs... we met outside studio B level 3 and had to carry down to 2...those that showed up with strollers etc...were delayed due to having to wait for elevators

[MomtoCCC]

Thanks for the info.. guess we will need to pack very lightly so we can walk off ourselves and make sure we make our flight.

[DragonOfTheSeas]

Do you have to carry them down the stairs? or can you use the elevator?

 

They say you have to be able to carry them--and we can. However, we have always been able to use the elevator.

[mcatmcat]

I did liberty jn December and I can't understand why it take that long to get off the ship. I live 50 mins from the port so I'm never in a rush to leave but it was 10:30am and there were hundreds of people onboard. When they finally called everyone to disembark I still waited about 10 minutes thinking that I wasn't going to find any line and guess what. After hearing the beautiful sound of "booinggg" ( after leaving the ship) I made a kne for about 30 mins just to get my luggage. After I got my luggage there were only around 20 people behind me and from me getting the luggages to actually leaving the terminal was around 30 mins.

 

It takes longer to disembark from the liberty than from the oasis

 

 

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[Eng23]

Perfect Example on why its a good idea not to fly out before 12... Sure it rarely happends.. i bet they are alot of upset people on there

^^^^^^

Like!!!!

 

With all the times the question gets asked about making early flights and the same answer for Port Everglades is if you are on the Oasis/Allure you probably can make an early flight. Those are the only 2 ships to attemt it with, any other ship or any other terminal it's better to book that noon or later flight.

[LBumb]

Liberty is not the quickest to disembark

[nivek82]

There were many people stating that they were going to miss their flights. The crew kept saying it was customs with one guy stating "when customs closes the gangway we have to close it with no questions".

 

They finally called "everyone else" at 1130. We as b2b were taken off around noon. To add insult it was pouring this morning outside and the long walk is not completely covered.

 

We got back onboard around 1230 and this was after they started to board. The good news for the windjammer was that the time it started to get really packed the room were ready.

 

Any case it's time for another cruise! 😀

[LindaO]

Making your flight arrangements before the suggested time is always a gamble. I've been on MANY cruises where customs shut down the line because someone was 'caught' with something... or immigration wouldn't allow the start of disembarkation because one or more foreign passengers had not shown up at immigration. RCI has no control over these matters. IF all goes smoothly and everyone has all their paperwork in order... passports out... foreigners in their line... US passengers in their line... no problem with luggage... nothing odd going on... then sure... you are off and on your way home. But... most of the time it just doesn't happen. So... booking a 10:30 flight is pushing it to begin with. Good Luck! I would definitely walk my luggage off... and I hope you can get a cab without a long wait.

[travelplus]

Well if anyone had an early flight they probably missed them. In the middle of a b2b on the Liberty and there are still tons of guests on onboard. We were told to meet at 11 but looks like it's going to be a while yet. At 930 this morning they were just calling tag 5,6,7 (an hour later than estimated time.). They made an announcement that it was customs fault.

 

This is the exact reason I do not book a flight the same day the boat arrives just in case of a delay. The same goes for not arriving the same day the ship leaves.

[monctonguy]

I book flights always for mid-afternoon to play it safe, and I always walk off with my own luggage.....no issues so far, knock on wood.

[griffy116]

With 15 cruises under our belt, we never worried about getting off the ship late. Two cruises ago, a friend of my Grandson had a bag that went missing. We spent almost 90 minutes waiting before they finally found it. Had we been flying, we would have missed our plane. Fortunately,we drove to the port on that particular cruise. We're cruising from Civitavecchia this June and it would be tight considering any traffic mishap or a lost bag so we will be staying overnight in Rome..not a tragic solution to us at all.

[Eng23]

This is making me nervous.. I scheduled a 10:35 am flight out of FLL. I've seen several reports of long lines to disembark from Liberty. I guess I need to figure out if DD (age 10) and I can do carry our bags out and do the self-disembark early to make sure we make our flight.

 

Do you know what time the people carrying their own luggage were able to leave?

Good luck!! Maybe you should check with your airline about the possibility of changing to a later flight.

[MomtoCCC]

Good luck!! Maybe you should check with your airline about the possibility of changing to a later flight.

 

I checked and it is $100 per person to change... I'm debating it..

[Cruzn Fool]

I checked and it is $100 per person to change... I'm debating it..

 

That is a tough call.

 

You may very well not have any problems if you can do the self disembark and just plan on being one of the first ones off of the ship. For me, packing light so you could carry off your own bags would be worth saving $200 versus changing your flight.

 

But the piece of mind knowing you could avoid a possible stressful rush to the airport may just be worth that extra $200.

 

I guess it comes down your personal preference and how you handle stressful situations. If it is going to ruin your trip, even just the last night/day of it then you should just pay the $200 now and call it a lesson learned. You could also find out what would happen if you did miss the flight. Could you get the next one and it still cost only $200 or would the price increas dramatically the day of the flight?

 

Good luck. I am doing a father/son cruise on liberty the next month after you. What cool parents we are ;)

[Nado44]

How weird. We disembarked from Liberty OTS this morning without any issues. Made it off the ship at 830 am and was in a taxi 15-20 minutes later with minimal wait time in line. Also noticed that today's disembarkation process was much smoother than our recent LOTS cruise in November.

[SailingDeanna]

Cruise Critic can often scare the pants off you! If you use Cruise Critic's advice, and properly plan, you will be just fine!

 

We self disembarked this morning from Liberty of the Seas. We had a 10:55 a.m. flight out of FLL. I read and read the boards before cruising and they scared me to death. I took their advice, and it was the absolute EASIEST disembarkation I have ever had.

 

My son timed it on his phone from the moment we lined up in Studio B. 28 minutes and we were in a taxi.

 

We lined up at 7:20 a.m. after having Windjammer breakfast. Windjammer opened at 6 a.m. We took the elevator down to floor 3 with our luggage. You aren't able to take the elevator back down to floor 1. So you must carry your luggage for 2 flights of stairs. And through the winding lines. No big deal at all.

 

We were at the airport a little after 8:00. Easy! We were way early for our 10:55 a.m. flight.

 

Cruise Critic often makes me stress about things. Use the information wisely that is given, and you will do just fine like us! Enjoy your cruise.

[MomtoCCC]

Cruise Critic can often scare the pants off you! If you use Cruise Critic's advice, and properly plan, you will be just fine!

 

We self disembarked this morning from Liberty of the Seas. We had a 10:55 a.m. flight out of FLL. I read and read the boards before cruising and they scared me to death. I took their advice, and it was the absolute EASIEST disembarkation I have ever had.

 

My son timed it on his phone from the moment we lined up in Studio B. 28 minutes and we were in a taxi.

 

We lined up at 7:20 a.m. after having Windjammer breakfast. Windjammer opened at 6 a.m. We took the elevator down to floor 3 with our luggage. You aren't able to take the elevator back down to floor 1. So you must carry your luggage for 2 flights of stairs. And through the winding lines. No big deal at all.

 

We were at the airport a little after 8:00. Easy! We were way early for our 10:55 a.m. flight.

 

Cruise Critic often makes me stress about things. Use the information wisely that is given, and you will do just fine like us! Enjoy your cruise.

 

Deanna - thanks! I was kind of thinking this is what we could do.. We are on Deck 8 - we could run up and eat early at WJ.. take elevator with our bags down to deck 3. I think we can handle 1-2 flights of stairs.. It was 8 flights that was worrying me. :eek:

 

Plus.. packing light will be good for us :)

[nivek82]

Well back this morning and things went much better today it seams. One thing of note at this port that I haven't seen at PC is that bags were all ready at 830ish regardless of what number they called. We had tags 3 and left when they said but three ladies got in the elevator with us and said they didn't know what they were doing but they were leaving. We asked what # they had and they said 31! Well they got off the ship and all the way to their bags no issues. In port canaveral it doesn't work like that to my knowledge. It does though make longer lines when people just do whatever.